Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – As players reported for training camp Wednesday, the hype and expectations are as high as they’ve ever been in the expansion era of the Cleveland Browns.
Understandably so.
Offensively and defensively the Browns are poised to field their most talented team in decades thanks to the work of general manager John Dorsey with new head coach Freddie Kitchens at the helm.
“Our goal here with the Cleveland Browns, as long as I am here, will always be to win the Super Bowl,” Kitchens said Wednesday afternoon. “You don't do that by talking about it. And you don’t do that by [focusing on] outside expectations.
“You do that by putting the expectations on how you prepare on a day in and day out day basis.”
Can you say, “Super Bowl, Super Browns?”
And who’s up for a vacation to Miami in early February?
First thing is first.
“They have to come together as one,” Dorsey said.
While the talent on the roster might be Super Bowl caliber, there’s a long way to go for an organization that hasn’t even won its own division in 30 years.
The Browns, who have been the NFL’s worst team since 1999, haven’t had a winning season since 2007 and they need to make the playoffs first – and that hasn’t happened in 17 years, the longest drought in the league.
But the past is the past, and the history – no matter how inglorious, painful and spectacularly awful as it may be – has zero bearing on the potential the 2019 season has.
Despite the abundance of talent, Kitchens remains candid about where they are at as a team as camp kicks off.
“Right now, we're just a bunch of good players, a bunch of good individual players,” Kitchens said. “Until we do something, that's all we are.”
Cleveland’s football team looks, on paper, to be one of the league’s best in 2019 thanks to another offseason makeover that saw multiple Pro Bowlers added to the roster – defensive end Olivier Vernon, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson and Odell Beckham Jr.
In the 19 months since Dorsey took over as GM, he has filled the gaping talent void the franchise suffered from in recent years and now it’s on Kitchens, his coaching staff and most importantly the players to live up to their potential.
“I don’t want to ever be scared to talk about what our goal is because if we don’t have 53 guys here at the end of this thing, that that’s their goal, then they’re in the wrong business, and they’re doing us and the Cleveland Browns a disservice,” Kitchens said. “So I want them to have that goal, but I want them to understand how they get there. It’s not by talking about it. It’s not by predicting it. But also I don’t want them to be scared to go get it.
“If you're not going to jump out of the airplane, don't put the parachute on. And I want people that’ll put the parachute on.”
The excitement for this season began after the Browns finished 7-8-1 by winning five of their final seven games in 2018 with Baker Mayfield at the helm and the hype boiled over with the acquisition of Beckham.
At long last the franchise has their quarterback in Mayfield, who enters his second season.
“He’s a little bit more mature than your average 24-year-old man, OK?” Dorsey said. “Wherever he has been, his teammates have always galvanized to him. That’s all you can ask for in that locker room, teammates who love you and support you. That’s who he is in that locker room.
“On the field, his competitive zeal is off the chart.”
Mayfield, who got married earlier this month and worked out with his teammates in California this summer, broke the NFL’s record for touchdown passes by a rookie quarterback in just 13 starts and the expectations for his sophomore season are sky high.
“Baker knows what he’s doing,” Kitchens said. “He’s not a guy just flying by the seat of his pants. Baker knows what he’s doing. Don’t ever have a misconception about that.”
How Kitchens manages the big personalities – especially on offense – might make or break the season.
Stars become stars by putting up big numbers and those stars naturally will want to keep putting up big numbers, and Kitchens believes that’s not going to be an issue.
“I think we’re overcomplicating it,” Kitchens said. “If we’ve got the right guy here, winning is fun, losing is not.
“I know players chase stats and you guys chase controversy because it sells, it means money, but guys around here aren’t going to be like that. I have total confidence in that. Odell wants to win. Nick Chubb wants to win. Baker wants to win. Jarvis wants to win. We’ve got a lot of guys who want to win.”
Although the focus has been on what is expected to be a prolific offense, the defense is stacked from front to back.
Three Pro Bowlers anchor the line – Vernon, Myles Garrett and Richardson. Throw in Larry Ogunjobi and the four have combined for 101.5 sacks, 154 quarterback hits and 155 tackles for loss in their careers. Anchoring the back end of the defense is Pro Bowler Denzel Ward, outstanding safety Damarious Randall and their new rookie corner Greedy Williams shows tremendous promise.
“We have some guys that are going to get after the quarterback. We have some guys that should be able to cover,” Kitchens said.
For the first time in a long time the Browns seem to be finally aligned from ownership down to the front office to the head coach, his staff and the players.
They have the talent to win, and win big.
Now it’s time for everyone to grab those parachutes.
